Sealing the Deal
by Zaneytwilightgirl
Summary: Jerry was surprised. "What? Are you just pissed because she's going to be the one lay you never had? I think you're just worried about losing your touch. I bet you couldn't get Crazy in bed if you tried." Edward's mind clicked an idea in place. "I could do it in two weeks." Edward would be damned if he let them go to town on Craz-the girl. She didn't deserve that. "It's a deal."
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Bella was late for work. She was ALWAYS late for work. Rushing into the office, her coat was halfway off before she slammed into her seat. Working for a hedge fund company suggested a certain air of propriety—of decorum. Both of these things she appeared to be sorely lacking. She felt so out of place in a sea of perfectly smooth hair and immaculately pressed materials. Everyone was thin and perfect and groomed and she always felt chubby, frazzled, and chaotic. Hot. She always felt hot. And wasn't that appropriate, she laughed inwardly. She really was a hot mess.

"I needed those files yesterday." She heard a steely voice grate as she took a sip of her expresso. Too hot. Probably it was for the best that she was just a secretary. Math was not her strong suit.

"Well, get them to me as quickly as possible." She heard a phone snap shut. Yes, PG was definitely upset.

PG was the only guy that had ever made her heart clench so tight it was painful. He was also someone who made her feel woefully inadequate, so she tried to limit time spent around him as much as possible.

She took another scalding sip and down-screened a file to look at her screensaver. The Bahamas. They were the only thing that got her through the day. That and the small peeks she would occasionally take at PG.

His name was Edward, but to her, he would always be the perfect guy. Sure, he happened to have a slight problem with an addiction to women, but she'd seen him one night, accidentally stumbling upon him in his office. And she knew the truth. He had a good soul.

She stood up to grab an ice cube for her coffee and a throat cleared to her left. Heart stopping, she made hazel eye contact and blinked.

"Yes, P—Edward?"

"Your uh—"

She glanced down to see her cammi under her dress had slid down so that her bra was partially exposed.

Face flaming, she jerked her clothing up and scurried past him without a word.

Her day had officially begun.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

She was so _strange_. Edward had no idea why ISLE would have hired that girl, but she always seemed in a rush, flustered, and out of control. She was nothing at all like the cool and collected professionals he worked with. He liked playing the game with those women. They knew the rules and played by them just as well as he did. And sure sometimes they wanted to keep a dying affair going and he would cut it off. But it was natural and while they were disappointed—they were never surprised.

So why in hell's name had the sight of her black lacy bra caused his pulse to stutter. He had been observing her whirlwind for a moment when a part of her top had slipped. He prided himself on his instincts and he knew she would not play by any game of his. She was a woman who needed a couple of kids, a house with flower pots. He could see it now and it made him shudder. That would never be for him. He did not do flower pots. His mind shied away from the other thought. He didn't think about _that_.

Shaking his head, he sipped his coffee—black—and examined some reports. A few minutes later, Jerry sauntered in and interrupted without knocking. Edward clenched his jaw. He hated when Jerry did that.

"So did you hear?" Jerry leaned negligently against the doorjamb and laughed.

"Here what?" Edward tried to listen halfheartedly. Jerry could be a weasel sometimes and he simply didn't have time at the moment.

"They're going to fire Crazy."

Edward's head shot up.

Crazy? The secretary girl?

"Why?"  
Another laugh slithered out of Jerry as he shook his head. "Late all the time, just now figured out how to transfer a call. Just not good for the image, you know."

Edward inhaled. So that was it, the strange anomaly would be gone soon. Oddly he felt like the office would be a little more boring without her.

"So I was talking with Garrison and we think this is an opportunity."

"What are you talking about?" Edward rubbed his forehead. He didn't have time for this. He really didn't. It was regrettable that the girl would be unemployed, but he could do anything about it. No," he corrected himself, "it was none of his business. He wouldn't do anything even if he could."

"Well, how long has she been here and no one's made a move because—well, who would want to. But really, it's kind of a challenge you know. Get her before she's gone—kind of a limited time thing."

Edward finally made eye contact with Jerry and unease spread through him at Jerry's glinting expression.

"She's getting fired, isn't that enough? Do you really want to run her into the ground?" It didn't seem right. He liked to play, but that just seemed … cruel.

"Hey, it's two weeks of opportunity. Garrison was more interested than I was, I think he might have a thing for her actually—which is a whole other set of therapy sessions—but it could be fun."

Edward rolled back his chair and stood, walking over. "I don't think so."

Jerry seemed genuinely surprised at this turn of events. "What?" He tried to backtrack, "Are you just pissed because she's going to be the one lay you never had?"

Now Edward was seriously getting angry.

"You know what? I think you're just worried about losing your touch. I bet you couldn't get Crazy in bed if you tried."

Edward's mind was clicking an idea in place. He stared coolly at Jerry. "I could do it in two weeks."

Jerry scoffed.

Edward wasn't into what Jerry and Garrison were getting into, he liked sex for sex's sake, not as a competition, but he'd be damned if he let them go to town on Craz—the girl. She was clueless and strange, but she didn't deserve _that_.

He would just mess around with her a little, get them off her back and then let her leave gracefully.

Of course, knowing her, it would be far from graceful.

"It's a deal."

Bella felt her face pale. "Two weeks' notice? But I was just a little late …"

"I'm sorry." Calvin didn't look sorry, but she knew it wasn't personal. Nothing in this office ever was.

She left the office in a dazed stagger. What was she going to do now? Move back in with her dad? She was twenty-five years old!

She would figure it out, she said firmly as she wandered past PG's office. Jerry was leaving and he gave her a strange look, smiling. Ugh, she shuddered internally. Everyone must know. She couldn't even bring herself to look in his office.

If she had looked, she might have noticed his papers lying forgotten and his attention compromised as he stared out his window distractedly. But Bella was too busy realizing another terrible consequence.

Edward wouldn't be a part of her daydreams anymore. She wouldn't see him after this and that left a burning ache. Maybe she had been obsessed, but after that night, she could help but feel it. Halloween night had left her with more questions than answers, but she'd had a glimpse and it had been enough.

Now though … it was all pointless.

**A/N:** Hey, thanks for stopping by, hope you liked the chapter, there will be more to come. Reviews are highly encouraged, they definitely motivate me in lots of good ways, so feel free to leave a comment telling me what you thought! Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Bella frowned as Jerry sauntered over for the fourth time that day. He had been bringing her things to fax all day long. Why he couldn't wait until he had it all together to make one trip, she didn't know.

"Hi Jerry, another fax?" She tried to smile cheerfully. Jerry hadn't been particularly nice to her since she'd started working at ISLE, but he'd never been rude and that counted for more than Rachel, so she always tried to be nice.

"Yep." He released a hearty sigh and leaned on the counter raising above her desk. "So …. What do you do when you aren't faxing or answering the phone?"

She wouldn't be doing those things much longer either, she mentally noted. "Oh you know, just the usual stuff. I have, um, Netflix now."

She couldn't hold back a shake of her head. Netflix?

"Sounds interesting. I have an account too. Maybe if you see something good, let me know and we could watch it together sometime."

Bella's face was perplexed. Was Jerry asking her out. He had an average personality, average looks, average everything. So why would he be going for her? She was so below the average at this company she couldn't even keep her job. She was 20 pounds heavier than any other girl who worked here and everyone could see she didn't fit in.

Jerry seemed like the type to like to fit in.

"Uh," Bella's brows drew together when she realized he was waiting for a response. She'd never really considered Jerry and it didn't sound like a good idea all things considered … "That's really nice, but I mostly watch the documentaries and nature stuff on there—pretty boring." She laughed. It was the truth. She love animal documentaries. Animal Planet was kind of her thing. Ditto on NatGeoWild.

"I love animals!" Jerry was not giving this up.

"I think she's just trying to set you down gently, Jerry. Take it like a man." That voice broke through their conversation and Bella felt her heart catch. This was bound to be mortifying. She wasn't sure how, but usually it turned out that way for her.

Jerry turned. "Edward. I should have known you would be around here today. Lots of _faxing_ for you too?"

Bella sat stiffly in front of her computer, unsure of how to proceed. This was so weird. And she knew for a fact that something was going on. Number one, no one faxed that much and number two, they were staring at each other like they were fighting. They weren't best buddies exactly, but Bella had seen them be friendly.

"I actually have some correspondence to send off," Edward answered smoothly. "But it looks like you've dropped off your things … so …" He waited.

Jerry shuffled off and snapped his office door shut.

"Sorry about that," Edward dropped the letters down and walked around the desk to her side, propping a hip against it. He was so close she was hyperventilating. She needed to breathe, needed to be cool.

He was speaking again and she forced herself to concentrate.

"So, animals, huh?"

She blushed. It sounded stupid coming from his mouth. "Yeah, like I don't know, Fatal Attractions and all that."

Edward laughed. "So you like watching people get eaten by their animals? Sounds kind of gruesome to me …"

He didn't move and she realized he was wanting to continue the conversation. She stumbled over her words, but finally got them out. "So what do you like to watch then?"

"Horror movies mostly." A grin ghosted over his perfect mouth and she felt her own lips twitch up in an involuntary response.

"Oh, so okay," she wheeled her chair to face him fully. "But that's not gruesome?"

His lips parted revealing pearly white teeth. "You got me. The more gruesome the better."

She crossed her arms. "I couldn't agree more."

He shook his head and his hair shifted with the enthused motion. "Vicious. You are one vicious girl, Bella."

Bella laughed and as they argued about the pros and cons to horror movies vs. real live horror stories, Bella realized that this was a new side of Edward, a fun side. She enjoyed talking with him and he made her laugh, forgetting her nervous energy. He was still gorgeous, but somewhere in the admission of his fear of heights, she stopped letting herself be so intimidated by it. Sure, he was gorgeous, but he was a person just like her. And while he would never be attracted to her (she was still very aware she was below his standards), she was still loving getting to know him.

Sure she had been slightly stalkerish, but she had been right, he did have a great character underneath all of the playboy attitude. He was … sweet. Surprisingly so. Talking with him felt like piecing two puzzle pieces together. It felt right.

The phone rang and she started guiltily. She really should have been working. It had been fifteen minutes! Feeling the sick feeling of guilt she guessed it really wasn't surprising she was being fired.

He excused himself and she took the call. The rest of the day nearly eliminated her belief that the morning had actually happened.

* * *

Edward was still working even though it was long past seven. He was staring at boring black and white figures, but a colorful curvy figure kept popping in and intruding. He had backed off Jerry and proven to them that he was making a move. A couple more scenes like today maybe a couple of kisses and they would be off his back.

He was ignoring the fact that his morning reconnaissance had been fun.

That was completely irrelevant. Hearing a door open, Edward paused. Was someone else in the office? He usually became so wrapped up in his work he failed to notice his surroundings. It was how he'd become so successful at the age of 27, handling multi-million dollar investments.

Of course, Garrison hadn't been doing too bad lately either. He had no idea how he'd been doing it, but Garrison was a newer hire from a competing company and Edward supposed he should watch him. Garrison wasn't up to his level of investments yet, but he was gaining.

The financial market could really be a tremulous thing sometimes.

He heard someone pulling open a drawer and walked down the hallway. Following the sound, he came face to face with a disheveled looking Bella.

Eyes wide, she screamed when he suddenly appeared around the corner. Lunging backwards, she hit into the desk. He winced at the sound of her hip cracking against the sharp wooden corner.

"_Ouch_," she said, rubbing her hip with one hand and clasping the other over her heart. "Edward! You gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry," He really did feel guilty. "I heard something and I wanted to check it out."

Her breathing was still shaky and slightly labored. His own pulse quickened slightly as he realized he wanted to hear that in a slightly different setting. He tried to shake the thought out of his head. A potted plants girl. That's what she was. He needed to remember that.

"What _are_ you doing here this late, though?" He asked, suddenly observing her pajama short shorts. They looked fuzzy and had pink hearts on them. And they were revealing a _lot_ of leg. He swallowed. Her T-shirt was baggy, but it only served to emphasis the length of her long, shaped legs. Oh God, he had to stop staring at her legs.

Dragging his eyes up, he saw pink heat filling her face. She must have realized what she was wearing too.

She tugged on the shorts but they just rose back up. He exhaled harshly. Eyes up.

"Sorry. I uh, forgot my book and it was really good. I was on the last two chapters at lunch and I wanted to finish reading it tonight."

"So you drove all the way back to the city just to get a book?" Edward stared at her with a smile.

She laughed nervously, still embarrassed. "Um … yeah. It's really good. Well," she was clasping her book in her hand and starting to edge away, "I'll let you get back to work!"

"What book is it?" He asked casually, trying to see the spine.

She covered it with her hand more, only raising his interest.

"Um, just a book. It's about a murder and stuff." She was lying.

Impulsively, he disregarded the last of his good intentions and followed her backward steps. He reached out and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Bella, you're kind of driving me crazy right now," he murmured as he leaned in towards her mouth.

"Wait!" The shocked voice stopped him dead and it was painful for him to drag himself back. He looked into her panicked eyes.

"I mean," those eyes raced, "you can't kiss me without …" She cut herself off in embarrassed silence.

He was frustrated, but also kind of amused. "Without what?"

"Without a date," she whispered.

A reluctant smile emerged. That was cute. She was only a few years younger than him, but it seemed so innocent. Dinner, a movie, then a kiss on the doorstep. It was novel for him.

"Okay then, let's make a date?"

Her eyes were flashing with shock and he loved the way she couldn't hide her obvious attraction to him. Then he frowned. Apparently he couldn't contain his for her either and that was an unwelcome surprise. He didn't do surprises at all. He stuck to his plans.

"Um, okay," a disbelieving smile lit her face. Surely it wasn't that shocking that he wanted her?

"Friday? At 7?"

"Friday," she repeated in a dazed voice, "7 works great."

"Okay, I'll see you then Bella." Edward watched her turn and flee the office.

What the hell was he doing?

* * *

Garrison had been in his office when he heard the scream. Hanging back around the corner he had heard the entire conversation and could imagine the rest. He loved how she had turned Edward down flat.

He had known it, she was different. She was better than just letting herself be with anyone. And while she was enamored with Edward now—he really didn't know why—she would soon realize he was just a man whore like everyone else in this office.

When Jerry had suggested making a play for the secretary, Garrison had taken a look at her and realized she was different from the other women he'd … dated. After deciding he wanted her, he realized it could be his chance to look better than idiot Jerry and make a move on her. And then Edward Cullen had to step in and put all his plans to hell.

No matter, the secretary was clearly of discerning taste. She would realize he was a grade above and if all of his plans went well, then she wouldn't have to worry about working ever again. He felt something dripping off of his hand and realized distractedly that he was now holding two halves of his pen in his hand. He shrugged and walked back to his office silently, tossing the pen in the trash. He didn't have a reason to feel anger—or at least he wouldn't soon. It wouldn't take long for the secretary to see through the man whore of the office.

**A/N:** So let me know what you thought. Date night's coming up next! Comments are always welcome, encouraged, and appreciated! It makes my day to read them! Thanks for all the great comments last time! As always, thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Bella was nervous. It was Friday and she was going to be leaving the office only to have the very best part of the office show up at her house two hours later. She was on lunch break sitting in the lobby, but she couldn't eat. That was probably for the best. She really wanted to lose 20 pounds before tonight. It was a shame it couldn't work like that. As it was, she'd just have to be careful and make sure that he didn't touch her stomach. Or her hips. Or her arms. Oh hell. This was going to go terribly.

Her phone buzzed, interrupting her thoughts.

"So it's tonight!" A happy voice chirped into her ear. Throwing away her salad, Bella leaned back to focus on the call. This was good. She needed a pep talk.

Telling her best friend Alice as much, she instantly felt better at her laughter. "But of course. I'm here for you Bella! This is so exciting! It's your first date in forever!"

"Oh this is nice," Bella grumbled good-naturedly.

"Annd it's with your super sexy office boss."

"Uhm, not exactly my boss …" Bella flushed at the intonation. "And really, that's kind of what I'm worried about," Bella admitted hesitantly.

"What are you talking about?"

Bella glanced around the lobby quickly. "That he's so … experienced, you know? I mean, I haven't really even dated, so what if after the date … he wants to, _you know_."

Alice gasped and Bella pulled the phone back off of her ear slightly. "What Alice?"

"You're not … you are! You're still a VIRGIN?"

Bella winced and hoped no one in the echoing lobby had caught that little screech. Nothing little about it actually.

"_Alice_."

"Oh my gosh, Bella, I had no idea that you still hadn't had sex! I thought for sure with Alex …?"

Bella shook her head. "No, he was always so quick to escape after each date. I think he was afraid if he didn't he would _have_ to." Her face was flushed pink. It was so embarrassing.

"Well, yeah, no wonder you're a little nervous. But … it sounds like you picked a great candidate for your deflowering."

Bella started to protest the phrasing when she heard a suspiciously familiar snort. Oh no. "Alice," Bella gritted, "is Jasper with you right now?"

There was a pause and then—

"Hey Bella." The deep voice came clearly over the phone.

"I'm on speaker phone?" Her voice hit a shriek and the people waiting for the elevator turned to look at her. Neck already blotched red, she shifted away from them and lowered her voice. "Alice, really?"

She could practically hear Alice blustering. "Well, honestly Bella, we're baking! So I had to put you on speaker. We've got a wedding this weekend."

Alice and Jasper ran a bakery and made the most amazing wedding cakes. Of course, right now Bella wasn't feeling very generous with her choice of compliments.

"Don't be embarrassed, Bella, I tell Jasper everything. You know that…"

Yes, Bella inwardly sighed, she did know it. She'd met Alice in college at UPenn and it had been friendship at first sight. And when Alice had landed a job at Patty Cake Bakery she had worked for Jasper and it had taken all of six months before Bella had proudly assumed the role of maid of honor. Jasper's brother Emmett had been the best man and it had been a very lovely, and very silly celebration. She smiled fondly.

It had been easy to tell they were soul mates. But there were limits and discussing her sexual history or lack thereof with her best friend's husband crossed her limit.

Jasper's reassuring voice filled the phone once more. "Seriously Bella, don't feel embarrassed. Honestly, it's not a huge deal. You shouldn't be worried. And you definitely shouldn't do something you don't feel comfortable doing. If he doesn't understand that, then he's not good enough to do anything with anyway."

Bella sunk into the bench. Ugh this was so humiliating.

"Jazz, that's not even—" she could hear Alice vocally wrestling over Jasper. "No, Bella if he's hot, do him! You'll never get this chance again. Once in a lifetime!"

"Alice!" Jasper's shocked voice rang through the phone.

"Oh honestly, Jasper, she needs to have fun. She's almost twenty-six for heaven's sake!"

"Umm, I have to go Alice, thanks for the … pep talk." Bella was desperate to end this conversation.

"Remember protection!" Alice shouted through the line before the connection ended.

Bella put her ice cold hands over her hot face. Great. She was even more flustered than before.

Her phone buzzed again. She hit accept and whipped the phone up to her ear.

"Alice, I won't forget protection with the once in a lifetime sex god, but I can't talk to you while your husband can hear us discussing the imminent loss of my virginity."

The few seconds pause caused her to freeze.

"Bella?"

Oh God.

"Dad?" Bella said weakly into the phone.

He coughed.

Oh no.

What had she said, what had she said? Her mind raced. Oh please, not that.

"Um, well Bella, I was just calling to see how you were doing."

"Oh, pretty good," she muttered and drug a hand over her eyes.

"I, uh, well, I" Charlie suddenly seemed to grow bold. "Bella what were you talking about?"

"Nothing, Dad, I was just … teasing Alice."

"I want you to be careful. You know that there are a lot of … men out there who would take advantage of a young girl and uh, well, I—there's no shame in waiting for marriage."

"Dad!"

"Now, Bella don't get all uptight. I'm hip to your generation and I know all about that casual stuff and I just feel like you need to know how proud I am that you've always been smart and responsible. You've never run off and went crazy."

Not for lack of effort—just lack of gumption, she acknowledged grimly.

"Dad I can't have this talk. I'm twenty-five years old."

"I just had to say my part." He sounded done. Please let him be done.

"Okay, thank you Dad, I'll talk to you later in the week."

"Okay Bells … and, be safe. I love you."

She cringed. "I love you too."

Hanging up the phone, she stared at it numbly. She wanted to kill Alice, but she was the idiot. Had she thought she'd been frazzled before?

* * *

Setting down the mail on Jerry's desk, Bella took a second to look out his lovely window. She missed natural light during the day.

It was five o'clock and she would be leaving in fifteen minutes to go home and get ready. She already knew what she was going to wear. She thought it would work best to minimalize her worst and highlight her best attributes. Of course, standing next to Edward she would only look like a shabby second. But that couldn't be helped. She chewed her lip nervously. Jerry had already left for the day and she made sure the mail had Jerry's name on it. Would do for her to give the wrong mail out.

Of course, she thought ruefully, what were they going to do? Fire her? She laughed even though it wasn't very funny.

She paused after she double checked the name, noticing a sleek iPhone sitting on the desk. He must have forgotten his phone. She wouldn't have paid it any mind, but it buzzed suddenly. Curiously, she picked it up and slid the screen arrow. A message from Garret was in bright green.

**_Going down fast, BOQ. H & C Pharmaceuticals. 72 hours. _**

What? Bella stared at the message and heard footsteps in the hallway. She put the phone down quickly and walked out of the office. She didn't know that much about hedge funds or investing, but she did know about that whatever this was, it sounded suspicious. Her stomach shivered at the thought of having uncovered something bad. Something wasn't right here ...

But of course, she reasoned as she zipped up her bag, she didn't know a lot about that kind of stuff and really it could just be some big misunderstanding. And then wouldn't she look like an even bigger idiot?

Shaking her head, she grabbed her keys. Time to get ready for a date with the devil.

* * *

Edward pulled into Bella's neat and tidy apartment complex. He winced as he did so. Even her apartment complex was cutesy. And he did _not_ do cutesy.

He walked up to her door, knocked, and waited.

And waited.

He sighed and knocked again. All attraction and sexual tension from that night in the office had evaporated. He knew he must have simply been really tired. There was no way that he felt like that about Bella Swan. No way in hell. So he was just going to take her to a fancy dinner, give her a goodnight kiss and when she gushed about their romantic date to the other office girls, Garrett and Jerry would shut up and he would go back to life without the cutesy.

He stared at her Happy Fourth of July! Sign. Holiday decorations, a frilly door rug. Yep. Cutesy.

He knocked again and then he heard a commotion from inside and stumbling footsteps. The door swung open and he was greeted with what looked like the tailend of a whirling dervish's dance. Bella had one arm in a black jacket and was wearing a bright pink shirt that whatever style it was, showed a fair amount of her delectable cleavage—or rather cleavage. He didn't think it was delectable, right?

He shook his head and quit staring, taking in her ripped jeans and riotous curled hair which she shoved off of her face as soon as she jammed her arm in the sleeve. She said something, but he was still staring at her like he was meeting an alien life form. No way was this going to be a quiet dinner affair, he realized abruptly.

She was saying something and he brought his gaze up to her full lips.

"I sorry," he said, trying to collect himself and his unruly thoughts, "can you repeat that?"

She smiled and repeated the words he had hoped he hadn't heard.

Edward stared at her aghast. "You want to do what?"

**A/N:** It's been a while since I've worked on this story, but I just got into it again! Any predictions on where they're going to go on their date or what will happen? Comments are always welcome, encouraged, and appreciated! It makes my day to read them! As always, thank you for reading!


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